Samsara Announced for Early 2018

Developer Marker has announced today that, Samsara, a reflective puzzle game of contrasts and echoes, is in the final stages of development prior to release in early 2018. Players guide an innocent child, Zee, safely to the exit of each level by dropping blocks with different shapes and properties into a world of two dimensions separated by a pool. More info and a trailer can be found below.

Deceptively simple mechanics conceal rich and complex interactions that involve positioning, pathfinding, gravity, balance, timing, redirection and teleportation, with Samsara’s significant twist: everything added in the upside down world of Zee’s mysterious shadow below reflects in the world above.

While playing in the park, Zee follows a squirrel through a portal to a world of echoes, inhabited by a shadow child. Surrounded by the unknown and trapped in a series of realms both confusing and dangerous, the youngsters must avoid slipping into the pool between dimensions, embarking on a voyage of discovery and awakening they share with the player, up and down staircases, through light and dark, across the upside-down and the right side-up to their eventual freedom.

‘What makes Samsara so compelling is that the player uses very simple mechanics to solve increasingly intricate problems that involve all kinds of interactions between Zee, Zee’s echo and the detailed, interactive environments,’ explains Alex Humphries, Senior Producer. ‘Progression has been carefully tuned to ensure players experience the same awakening as Zee and the shadow as they escape from Samsara.’

Features of Samsara:
– Explore the reflected dimensions of 77 levels across 6 hand-detailed realms, each with hidden “Easter Eggs” to uncover
– Simple play mechanic – choose, rotate and drop blocks and utilize their reflections
– Carefully paced advancement, new concepts introduced progressively
– Blocks must be both balanced and will respond to gravity, falling towards the pool between the two dimensions, allowing asymmetric placements…
– …Although later in the game, new types of block reflections may behave “unusually” under gravity
– Environmental interaction includes falling stones, and thorns which grow on contact with Zee’s echo but shrivel at Zee’s own touch, allowing timed block movements to be set up
– Crafted with love by a team of experienced developers in New Zealand, featuring innovative puzzle design and a unique art and animation style
– Available on Xbox One, Windows 10 and Steam (PC and Mac) in early 2018, to be followed by iOS and Android versions shortly afterwards